Rachel Maddow, Joe Sudbay and I have something in common. In addition to being terribly handsome, we all think Hillary the presidential candidate won't be leaving us any time soon, and certainly not in two to three weeks.
Now, we'd set a policy the other day of ignoring Hillary forthwith on AMERICAblog. We don't write any more about the failed presidential candidacy of Joe Biden or Mike Gravel, or even John Edwards, so, her never-ending tantrums aside, why write about failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton? What's more, Hillary went through a bout of sanity last week. Sure, it only lasted 48 hours, but nonetheless, for those fleeting two days Hillary once again became a real Democrat, talking about issues, and not trying to lead her party towards a disastrous civil war that would guarantee a loss in November against John McCain. The old Hillary, the Hillary we actually liked, appeared to be back, so perhaps it was time to leave her alone. But as anyone who remembers "Flowers for Algernon" knows, such miracles rarely last.
In the past week, we've been subjected to what appears to be a coordinated campaign by the Clinton people to convince their own followers, and much of America, that the reason Hillary lost to Obama is because of sexism. Even more, the Clinton campaign and its surrogates are arguing that Hillary didn't lose at all - she actually won the election and it is precisely America's sexism that is stealing her victory away from her. In a nutshell, math is misogynist.
Putting aside for a moment the mutli-layered lie that is any talking point coming from the Clinton campaign (yes, the great white hope is now a champion against bigotry), the more important question isn't whether Hillary faced and faces sexism, but rather, why is Hillary still trying to open more wounds in the party and the electorate?
Hillary's latest greatest strategy is to convince her followers that they were robbed of their nomination because "elites" in Washington, including the Democratic elites (read: Superdelegates), hate women (I guess that's news to Nancy Pelosi). Now, what possible reason is there for Hillary to latch on to this new strategy? Because she's planning on leaving the election in the next 3 weeks and ending things on a high note? Because she thinks she can win 90% of the vote and 90% of the remaining Superdelegates by telling Democrats that they're a bunch of bigots? Hillary has stopped the personal attacks against Obama, but that wasn't because she finally realized she can't win, and that in the meantime she was simply hurting the party. Hillary stopped attacking Obama because she realized that she can't win BY ATTACKING OBAMA. She's found a new foil, sexism, and she has a new plan she's going to ride all the way to the convention. And she's told us as much all along, but no one wanted to believe her.
When has Hillary said even once that she'll end this by early June or mid-June, or any date at all? She refuses to set a date by which she will abide by the decision of the voters and the superdelegates, and if anything, her people have made quite clear that June will not end this. That should tell you something. If she were planning on pulling out in 2 or 3 weeks, she'd have said "after the last election, the person with the most superdelegates wins." But she hasn't said that. Why? Because Hillary knows that she can still steal this election on August 22, days before the start of the Democratic Convention. If political lightning finally strikes and we suddenly discover in August that Obama is actually a space alien hell bent on serving Americans as lunch, the superdelegates can legally switch their vote to Hillary and she would be our nominee. She's going to stay in the race, waiting for that day.
That, my friends, is what's going on. That's Hillary's plan. And why shouldn't it be? What possible penalty does Hillary pay for dragging the race until August and putting our party on the verge of, in not in a full-fledged, civil war? What - her histrionics might make Obama lose in November? Yeah, she's really worried about doing something that might allow her to run again in four years. No one in town is standing up to her. No one in the party, no one on the Hill. Hillary is paying, and will pay, no penalty for dragging this out until August, so why should she stop now?
Hillary isn't acting like someone who plans to quit in three weeks or even three months. She's constantly moved the goal post throughout this entire election. Whether it was the never-ending parade of "firewall states" that Hillary simply had to win, lest she be forced to end her campaign, or the ever-increasing number of total delegates needed to win, or the ever-changing explanation du jour as to why she's losing/lost the race (it it's Tuesday, it must be misogyny). Until Hillary has to pay a political price for her actions, she's going to keep moving the goal posts until the entire game is lost.
